Four best and four worst things about West Ham’s first two games under Nuno Espirito Santo

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It’s still early days for Nuno Espirito Santo at West Ham, but the opening two games have already given fans plenty to think about.

There’s been a fair share of hope but still some hopelessness on display, with moments of promise mixed with signs of the challenges ahead, there’s been some aura and some awful.

So let’s take a look at the four best and four worst things from the start of the Nuno Espirito Santo era at West Ham.

Nuno got his Hammers career off to a great start before a ball had even been kicked.

The board were said to be willing to effectively write-off games at Everton and Arsenal by delaying sacking Graham Potter until the international break that is now upon us.

West Ham’s rationale – if you can call it that – was they didn’t want those daunting back-to-back away games to be the first matches for any new manager.

Hammers fans were won over straight away when it emerged Nuno told David Sullivan he wanted to take on that challenge.

West Ham were much-improved and could have won their 1-1 draw at Everton.

Defensively there were clear signs of improvement at Arsenal too, despite what was a comfortable 2-0 win for the Premier League title favourites.

Four best things about West Ham under Nuno so far

There have been plenty of positives to build on so far even if it has only been just over a week since the new head coach came in.

Passion, aura and aggression – on and off the pitch

West Ham were weak, passive push-overs under Potter. In many respects they were a very real reflection of the manager.

But Nuno is a completely different animal and after just one week it is clear his team will be too.

From his first interview Nuno promised ‘hell’ for the opposition once he gets West Ham playing his way.

Nuno has been forthright with his views in interviews and press conferences, telling it like it is while also being positive.

Hammers fans have loved his passion on the sidelines too with video showing him saying “Come on Jarrod, come on Jarrod” as Bowen made his way into the box to score at Everton going viral.

After the game he called out Konstantinos Mavropanos for slack defending on the Everton goal. The big Greek responded with an excellent and aggressive display at Arsenal.

Players have responded well on the pitch with a huge uptick in effort levels.

West Ham stars have also been raving about Nuno when discussing the new head coach’s first week at the club.

Nuno not afraid to make bold Hammers decisions

If Potter was timid and came across as a ‘yes man’, Nuno is anything but.

From the get-go he has shown a willingness to make big, bold decisions.

Just ask James Ward-Prowse, Jean-Clair Todibo and Callum Wilson.

In training, Nuno has a core group training together with what can only be described as the ‘substitute squad’ training separately at times.

The Portuguese dropped Ward-Prowse and Todibo from his squads altogether and both are said to be on the way out the moment January rolls around.

Youth finally getting a real chance at West Ham

Potter was the latest Hammers boss to pay lip service to the Academy of Football.

West Ham fans are fiercely proud of their history of producing players and love nothing more than seeing one of their own get a chance in the first team.

Potter came in promising all that but ditched the only youth player he gave a chance to, Ollie Scarles, as soon as he had a dip.

West Ham fans loved seeing Freddie Potts brought on at a crucial stage of the Everton game. And the midfielder actually helped swing the game in the Hammers’ favour as they came back to draw 1-1.

Then at Arsenal, everyone expected Wilson to come on for the dreadful Niclas Fullkrug.

But Nuno turned to 20-year-old Academy graduate striker Callum Marshall instead.

The Northern Irishman played well and did more in his cameo than Fullkrug managed in both of Nuno’s games combined.

Nuno looks like he will finally be the manager to give proper chances to West Ham’s young players.

No more BS as Nuno gets the West Ham way

Within three days Nuno seemed to get the real West Ham way more so than Potter or Lopetegui ever did.

The West Ham way is often derided as some delusional ideal to play football like prime Barcelona and win every week.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Craig Bellamy once described the real West Ham way perfectly.

The former Hammers striker stated it is about not hiding, being brave and showing for the ball and trying to play even when things aren’t going well.

That in essence is at the very heart of it.

Nuno talked about the West Ham way and said he had been told it is to play with courage, no fear, aggression and finished by saying ‘so let’s go for it’.

Fans loved hearing that, just as they’ve also enjoyed the fact the head coach is not feeding them waffle before and after games. West Ham fans know their football, you can’t kid them on and nor should any manager try.

Nuno has called everything as he has seen it so far, making it clear what he expects.

Even when asked about the ‘No more BS’ fan protests against the board, Nuno called it spot on, saying he has not earned the right to have a say, insisting he is focused on the fans growing closer to the players and team rather than the owners.

Four worst things about West Ham under Nuno so far

It’s not been all perfect thus far, though, and nor did anyone expect it to be.

So it’s only fair we look at some of the causes for concern that need to be addressed.

Nuno’s most striking West Ham issue

Anyone who has watched West Ham’s first two games under Nuno will know what is coming here.

The new manager seems to have settled on Fullkrug being the starting striker to begin with.

It is fair to say Fullkrug is quickly playing his way straight out of the team.

The big German has been abysmal, putting in two terrible performances as he continues to struggle to compete at Premier League level.

Fullkrug’s lack of mobility and pace mean he was always going to be up against it as a Premier League forward. The most worrying thing is that the former Dortmund striker seems to be getting worse the more games he plays.

Bringing Marshall on ahead of Wilson suggests the youngster might be in line to stake his claim for the starting spot soon enough.

What is abundantly clear, though, is West Ham simply must sign the striker they should have bought in the summer as soon as the January window rolls around.

No easy fix to West Ham mess

West Ham avoided spending the October international break bottom of the table by virtue of a late Brighton equaliser at Wolves.

The Hammers would literally have hit rock bottom but avoided it by the skin of their teeth.

This was always going to be a fiercely competitive Premier League season and that has proved the case already.

Potter has left West Ham in a mess and they were criminally under-prepared for the season judging by performances and results.

There is confidence among fans and players that Nuno can turn this around.

But there needs to be a realism from all involved about what lies ahead.

West Ham are already stuck in the bottom four whereby a six-goal swing would be needed against Brentford to lift them any higher.

What the Hammers really need is back-to-back wins to make any notable progress up the table and create some breathing space.

Games against Brentford and Leeds after the break give West Ham that opportunity but this could be a long haul for Nuno which lasts the entire season.

Pragmatic tactics as needs must for West Ham

One of the concerns surrounding the appointment of Nuno was that it would see the return of a counter-attacking approach which fizzled out under David Moyes.

Some of the best football witnessed at West Ham in the modern era was that season under Moyes where Jesse Lingard led blistering counter attacks as the Hammers set their new club record Premier League points tally and finished sixth.

The good news is that even the likes of Man City are having to play counter-attacking football nowadays, meaning it is not viewed with such disdain by football brainboxes.

And with the likes of Bowen, Crysencio Summerville, El Hadji Malick Diouf and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Nuno should have the tools to work with to implement that style in east London.

What we witnessed at Arsenal, though, was the return of the kind of pragmatism which would have made Sam Allardyce and Moyes proud. Given where the club are right now, it is exactly what is needed so there are no complaints there.

But with a lack of quality, West Ham fans may be in for some frustrating and dull games when they come up against the top sides this season.

What happened to a clean slate?

Usually when a new manager comes in they declare it is a clean slate.

While Hammers fans loved seeing Ward-Prowse dropped instantly, his expulsion from the squad suggests there is more than meets the eye to relations between him and Nuno.

Todibo has been frozen out too with big question marks over his attitude and character in the wake of the sackings of both Lopetegui and now Potter.

Can West Ham really afford to discard £62m worth of players like this though?

Nuno clearly knows what he is doing and may be sending a message to everyone else with his actions.

But ideally he would turn Todibo’s Hammers career around, even if it is with a view to selling him on if the Frenchman really doesn’t want to be here.